The notion of spring cleaning definitely has taken hold of me. I’ve gone through my closets trying to downsize, and I’ve made a little progress. The deal is… I’m not really a collector. (Okay, okay… the coffee cups… but they all have a story.) I’m not going to be weeding out photos or family heirlooms. The small gathering of actual books I keep at the barn are just that – keepers. I’m not a shopper, so I don’t have a load of little impulse items. No, my “things” all get to stay.

It’s the electronics that seem to be driving me nuts this year. And I guess they get to stay too. Our satellite receiver literally bit the dust in a recent windstorm. They’re coming to fix it soon, but on the scheduled day it’s looking like massive gusts again.

After all these years we broke down and bought a treadmill. It doesn’t work. They are shipping console number three this week in hopes that it will turn on and the belt will actually go around and around.

Gary has been trying to install and learn new hymnal software for the church, and although it’s a noble endeavor, it has been fraught with frustration.

My phone stopped texting. Frozen. They mailed a replacement. That one refused to work for a couple of days, but after many moments of heart-racing, internet-searching, FAQ-reading attempts, that problem was conquered.

I tried diligently to set my vacation photos to music and place it all on a flash drive… something any 12 year old could master… but gave up one night in total exhaustion and near collapse from the unsuccessful effort. I admit, after two futile days, I yelled out in agony. I shall not attempt this again anytime soon.

This is boring enough, so I won’t continue on with the daily plagues that seem to come our way with these gadgets we can’t live without. I imagine you deal with them too.

This evening I was reading in this wonderful book of quotes my mother just found in the back of one of her closets. (Ha! How ironic! I hadn’t even realized… she was doing a little spring cleaning of her own.) Anyway, here is a quote from Albert Einstein that sums it all up. “Every possession is a stone tied to your leg.”